• Planning your vacation day-by-day as you’re doing it is actually exciting, but requires a smart, fun-loving husband with really really good ideas (plus lots of phone calls and hotel points don’t hurt!)
• Traveling with three boys aged 5, 6 and 8 is WAY fun…sometimes it’s nice that they are getting bigger and growing up (sometimes)

 

• The submarine exhibit at the Museum of Science is great, but only for about 15 minutes…after that, it’s time to move on

(the title of this picture is Aiden’s dream comes true – he turns into a rainbow)

• Having a father who is currently working for 7-11 and scores coupons is AWESOME. There is nothing better than dinner at a hotel with hotdogs and chips (except for the excellent Mexican food mommy and daddy picked up for themselves, but again, a matter of opinion)
• Books on CD are pure GOLD for car rides with the boys. There were HOURS of peace on the ride to and from Wisconsin.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are a chuckle for everyone.
• The best indoor hotel pool of all time is at a Marriott in Middleton, Wisconsin

• Just because you (ah-hem, Logan) start your very first ski lesson crying in frustration does not mean that you’ll willingly leave the ski hill at the end of the day once you’ve gotten the hang of it. It also doesn’t mean that actual runs aren’t in your future a mere day later

Brady

Logan  

Aiden

Brady again (just threw himself down the hill each time kamikaze-style)

• Cabins are awesome! Hot tubs are great, but don’t provide as much entertainment for young children as you would think (short, but sweet dips in before they ultimately decided it was a pool or started climbing around on the seats)

• Our third trip to the Tannenbaum in the past 12 years proves it’s still a great place to get away, but probably due for a carpet update!

 

• If a family of 5 ties their snow-tubes together and ends up running into a good-sized (12ish) child who slid onto the end of the run when the family was part way down and then paid NO attention and didn’t get out of the way, that child will fly out of his tube, do a complete flip, land in the middle of the family face down then slide off. He will then jump up, run over to his dad and they will exchange a high-5 for the full flip while the mother in the family of 5 tries to regain a normal heart rate. seriously.

• snowball fights after tubing are awesome (when the ski area is closed that is) <—Christmas Mountain right down the street from our cabin.

 

• I can actually get down 5 full ski runs without falling.
• Logan does NOT need his mommy to be anywhere near him; he’ll wait for me at the bottom if I insist on going less than top-speed :)